Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 6, 1 Iune 1998 — Abraham Aiona [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Abraham Aiona

DURING MY years in elected office, as a member of the state legislature and as an OHA trustee, I have met many people. These have included govemors, chiefs, lawmakers, ambassadors and CEOs. The privilege of meeting people expert in what they do has not escaped me; and, as I have gotten older, the opportunities have become more meaningful. While the vast majority of these people have become distant memories, a few significant individuals remain a part of

me forever. These are the people who possess qualities so rare that they might be compared to the silversword, a rare and special plant, found only on Haleakalā. It flowers only onee in its entire life. There is no other like it found on Maui, it is that special. Like the silversword plant, such a rare and special gift is Abraham Aiona. Abraham Aiona, retired on May 12, submitting his resignation at the urging of his physieian. His age and daily commutes from Maui to

Honolulu as budget chairman had tested his kidneys to the point where his thrice-weekly dialysis treatments became a burden on his health. Aiona's career in public service began when he enlisted in the army, eventually becoming a paratrooper. After the war, Aiona became a poliee officer in Honolulu and eventually the first executive officer to then-Police Chief Dan Liu. In 1969 he was the first Hawaiian to become the poliee chief of Maui County, where he picked up his well known moniker of "Chief." Upon his retirement as poliee chief, Aiona ran and lost a race for mayor of Maui. He then was elected to the Maui County Council where he served as vice chair of the eouneil and chair of the committee on budget and finance. For reasons initially unclear to me, Aiona successfully ran and won a seat on

OHA's Board of Trustees in 1 990. By sheer coincidence and fate, he and I became new members of OHA that year. At that time, I couldn't figure out why someone who had such a distinguished career serving people as Aiona would choose to run for a seat in an organization characterized by the media as "chaotic, directionless and irresponsible." Since that time, Aiona went on to serve his people and OHA with distinction for seven and one-half years, most of whieh he served as the vice chairman of the board and the chairman of the

oonimuiee on r>uugei and Finance. The eop who became poliee chief who lost the election for mayor of Maui, who served on the county eouneil did more for his people in OHA by his leadership in creating the OHA investment portfolio. His legacy to his people is the growth of the trust portfolio whieh grew from $19 million in 1 990 to $302 million today. His leadership as budget chief is the financial endowment for genera-

tions to eome and yet unplanned. Those monies will expand the present financing programs whieh successfully assist homesteaders in acquiring home repair and second mortgages today. Those monies will someday be used to create other financing programs such as credit consolidation, rental assistance, first mortgage, lease-to-fee and rent-to-own conversion financing. With proper vision, those funds will become the seed capital for real estate development, educational opportunities and eeonomie development programs. Abraham Aiona is like that rare silversword plant that flowers, bears fruit and seeds but onee in its lifetime. It's clear to me now why he ran for OHA; to create the financial endowment seeds for our future. Like Abe Aiona, we should all aspire to make the gift of commitment to make life better for others. ■

[?]